Daily Mail Prize Crossword 14196 Wednesday March 21st 2012

[shooty]

I have found a few in today's Mail a little obscure.
Four to parse please.

15a 'Relic' shows priest in clothes denoting his faith. (5,8)
Answer is 'Roman Catholic'.

11d Female worried about cheese (4)
Answer is 'Feta'.

17d Award's not on time (4) H-U-
Answer is 'Hour' I think.

21d Darling's small, very small, game. (7) S-E-T-E
Answer is 'Sweetie' I think.

[factor-fiction]

sweetie is okay

[factor-fiction]

S (small) + wee (very small) + tie ( a game/match)

[factor-fiction]

F + ate backwards

[bulliver]

17d h(on)our

[penelope2]

17d. Take 'on' from Honour (Award) = Hour.

[factor-fiction]

ELI in RC

[cathfromsaron]

i agree, ate up as in worried, then f to start

[Calibax]

15 a Eli (priest) in RC
11d F(emale) + Ate(worried) reversed
17d H(on)our
21d S wee tie

[bigbadmarty]

award = honour not "on" -no? = hour
r eli c eli is a preist in the bible rc = roman catholic
I agree its a bit of a stretch :)

[shooty]

Thanks for all the replies. : )

'Honour' makes complete sense although i could not see it : /
Obviously 'ATE and TIE are both correct, Not keen on them for clues myself.
And as for 15a, I am still baffled where he is coming from. I have seen the two explanations below (thank you), but surely the KEY word is 'faith' which would be 'Roman Catholic'.
What is with the rest of it. Obviously i have got my blinkers on.

[shoota]

Eli in Roman catholic Eli was early Christian preacher

[shoota]

11d F female worried eat about - as in worrying sheep?

[shooty]

Cheers Shoota and everyone else, but i still do not get 15a

This is EXACTLY how the clue is written in the Mail.

15a 'Relic' shows priest in clothes denoting his faith. (5,8)

Why would i have to parse 'Relic', as it states a 'priest in clothes' directly afterwards ?

[bulliver]

Roman Catholic (faith) is denoted by the letters 'R C' which 'clothe' (go round) 'Eli' (priest) in the word 'relic'

[shooty]

Thank you bulliver. : )
Sorry everyone, the 'Penny' has finally dropped : )